Democracy, War, and Peace - Lecture 1: Fukuyama vs Hegel

4
Pages

132
Views

Unlock Document

School

University of Toronto St. George

Department

Political Science

Course

POL101Y1

Professor

Jeffrey Kopstein

Semester

Fall

Description

POL101 Lec 1 11-09-26 7:31 PM ..man is by nature a political animaland he who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god Aristotle, Politics if your a human being, you are involved in politics Big themes of Class-> Democracy, Dictatorship, War and Peace The point of social science is to try to make sense of the world we live in. How do we make snse of it? By simplifying, by focusing on what matters and ignoring what doesnt That way the world is less scary. Big questions, politicians ask themselves 1. Is the world becoming more democratic and more peaceful? Francis Fukuyama looked at communism, Summer 1989, Hegel. History of Philosophy. Hegel believed that history of the world is the history of philosophy. Not kings, queens, presidents, prime ministers, or celebrities: they steal ideas, big ideas. th Hegel -> 19 century german philosopher. When you see a war, what you are seeing is people dying but whats really happening out there is a clash of ideas. Industry, economy, religious practice are material manifestation but whats really going on is the ideas that inform those practices. Ideas and the organization of human society. Really big ideas are those that organize human society. Ancient society. LOOK AT BIG THINKERS Medieval society. Liberal Democratic state. Hegel and the Battle of Jena: victory of liberty, equality and fraternity The french soldiers represent the liberal ideas, the fougth for the liberal state. This victory represented the end of history. -> Essential battle of human history was over. No new ideas forthcoming that can challenge the BIG big idea. Vodkaboozia-> Previous leaders Too often the unyielding attention of the narrow, the irrelevant, the vaipid is the preoccupation of the human mind. It is theory alone that helps us transcend this poverty of the human condition. Hegel, Pholosphy of the